Mask of Shadows (Untitled #1)(36)
“Where do all the nobles live?” The paths were more forest than road and the skyline a canopy of thick leaves and hanging gardens. With such stringent rules about who could enter the two gates, they could afford such indefensible grounds. “The ones I need to bow and scrape and defer to?”
“Bowing is enough.” Maud exhaled slowly. “You couldn’t care less about that, and I’m not helping with whatever plot you’ve got going.”
“So when I trip over some high court member, you’ll look the other way?”
“The nobles live deeper in the spiral and closer to the palace proper, past Ruby’s residences,” Maud said. “Emerald keeps rooms close to the orangery, then Amethyst, then Ruby, and the people next—merchant heads, ambassadors, court members. Everything’s in a spiral, and the closer you get to the center, the nobler they are.”
With Our Queen at their center.
I nodded. “I’ll try not to trip on them.”
The windows of the eastern spires glittered like stars above me, and I wandered after Maud with my eyes to the sky. Towers and arches split the expanse like lightning, glass windows lit by chandeliers cast rainbows across the grounds, and trees twisted together to block patches of sky. Maud stopped outside of a building framed with twining honeysuckle. Amethyst’s dour mask was burned into the door.
No mistaking whose residence this was.
“You’re here.” Maud pulled two keys from her pocket and handed one to me. I turned it over in my hand. The lock was a tumbler and easy enough to pick. “I drew a bath before I came to get you—extra hot, should be all right now—and laid your clothes out. I’ll come get you in the morning.”
She unlocked the door. I peered inside and whistled. The room was simple but nice. A real bed with pillows and quilts stitched like the night sky sat in one corner, and a thin screen painted like a spring woodland split the small room in half. The bath steamed behind it.
“Much nicer than the last one.” I traced a finger along the wooden wall, carvings of bears and deer smooth under my nails.
“With the understood obligation you’ll leave it as you found it.” Maud smiled softly. “I’m betting even nicer than wherever you were before this. My room’s much better than the orphanage.”
“What would you know?” I said, dismissal coming in an instant, but I snapped my teeth together to stop the rest from coming out. Orphanage—that explained a lot. Rath carried everything in his pockets too. “I was never quite sure if I was better or worse off than the orphanage kids.”
“Up to chance—mine wasn’t the worst. Taught me to clean and sew.” She nodded toward the bath. “I’ll wake you up in the morning. Two knocks. You’ve no windows—just the slats in the ceiling—so you only need to worry about the door.”
I hadn’t even noticed, but the roof was open to the night sky, thin pieces of wood missing every few spaces so that slivers of moonlight shone through. A finely woven mesh covered the gaps.
“Thank you.” I held open the door for her, intent on locking it soon as she left, and offered her my own small smile.
Maud stepped outside. Without looking back, she said, “And thank you for not dying.”
“Your continued approval keeps me going.” I closed the door behind her. Definitely a quality tumbler lock but still a tumbler. I paced the room from corner to corner and checked for any hidden passages she might’ve missed. Nothing.
Staring at the dark ceiling later, wrapped in the finest blankets I’d ever touched and cleaner than I’d ever been, I traced the map of scars my lifetime of running and fighting, thieving and fear, had carved into me and smiled.
They’d welcomed me into their house, and I was going to tear it down.
Twenty-One
I dreamed of bells and blood. It was harder to wake up than it was to fall asleep, and I battled with my body for control while staring at the ceiling. The tense, muscle-taut pain of waking before I was ready eased away slowly. The unsettling darkness of the room, broken only by the finger-thin slats in the ceiling, pressed down on me. I rolled out of bed.
Maud’s double knock broke through my hazy dreams.
“Twenty-Three?” She knocked twice again, and the tumbler lock clicked open. “I’m coming in.”
“Sounds good.” I crawled back onto the bed, pulling on my mask, and shuffled around till the shirt I’d slept in was turned right side out. “Light’s weird with no windows.”
Maud held up her tapered candle. “The Left Hand prefer it.”
She lit the lamps while I straightened myself up for breakfast. She waited at the door, lighter smoking in her hands, and shook her head when I stepped forward. I stopped.
“You’re learning etiquette and palace life.” Maud pulled a longer tunic from the pile. “You won’t be in the dirt all day now. You have to impress.”
“All my clothes look the same.” I grabbed the tunic, gesturing for her to turn around. “Black and cheap.”
“I bought the nicest ones,” she said loudly. “They know you don’t have much to work with, but you should at least try.”
Not much to work with, my ass. I yanked the old shirt off and pulled on the tunic. It was nicer with a back hem sweeping to my knees and the hemline edged in dark-gray swirls. The black buttons at my throat were as shiny as my leggings. I definitely looked better.